Heaven Sent Discussion Thread (Spoilers Ok)

Did it remind anybody else of Jim Mortimore's ill-fated novel "Campaign"?

Not having been exposed to any of the spoilers and advance press on this episode I felt that there were aspects which were far too easily predicted. As others have stated almost wonderful, but not quite.. I think it was the last five minutes or so that aren't sitting well with me. Still, it does leave me intrigued as to what we'll see next week.

I enjoyed it, it was very atmospheric, and well performed, but has left me a little puzzled.

At the start of the series Missy had the confession dial, which presumably had his confession in it. The Doctor eventually gets it back, only to then hand it over to Ashildr who teleports him into a confession dial where he confesses that he is afraid to die, left Gallifrey because he was afraid and that he knows what the hybrid is. He eventually breaks out of the confession dial through a stronger-than-diamond wall, which failed to reset unlike the rest of the castle, and steps onto Gallifrey when he picks up the dial and tells it who the hybrid is.

Okay, so, did Missy get the confession dial from the future after the doctor has been imprisoned in it for several billion years, and after episode 12? If she did, then what happened to the full one Ashildr took, and where did the empty one she teleported him into come from? If it wasn't from the future then what confession was in it, and how did it get to Gallifrey after Ashildr teleported him into it? Was the castle even inside the dial, or does it work as a gateway and there just happened to be one in the Gallifreyan desert? Will this all be answered next week? Am I overthinking all of this?

JESUS CHRIST, MOFFATT.

A more articulate review will follow, BUT BLOODY HELL, MAN. THAT WAS NOT OKAY.

Oh, and now we've had the big reveal, we can see just how stupid it was for the Beeb and DWM to put "Returning to Gallifrey, the Doctor faces the Time Lords" as the opening sentence on next weeks ep's synopsis, published weeks before tonight's reveal aired.

The only thing I'm wondering is if it was actually billions of years, or whether it just seemed like that to the Doctor (as in, time seemed to move differently in the confessional dial), because it could mean that the Doctor is billions of years old by this point.

Well I think someone at the production team is an idiot. Surely hyping a major surprise is better than just letting everyone know in advance? People tune in for shock reveals, even casual fans. Not so much when they've already read it in the tv guides

Oh, yes, I completely forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me!

Wow. And double wow. A whole lot of wows contained in this episode. Fears of a one handed episode being boring or silly were clearly unfounded. Someone above me mentioned how 8 was the only other Doctor they could picture behaving this way...well, the image I kept having was this was Doctor 12 at his most 3rd Doctor like. Anyway, in a series that has been marked by its confidence and its ability to successfully take risks, this was the riskiest and most confident episode yet. Capaldi is amazing. Moffat turned in one of his two or three best scripts in the new series' ten history and Rachel Talay uses every bit of her horror background to squeeze every ounce of dread & tension out of the episode. And special mention to Murray Gold. What a beautiful score. I'd argue it was the real second character in the episode. So it is back and huge questions have been asked. I am very ready for next week.